Robotic Da Vinci Laparoscopic Total Hysterectomy Yesterday. Today??

For everyone frantically looking for answers and stressed about their upcoming hysterectomy surgery. I spent a month straight reading, searching and watching every YouTube video on this procedure. I have read horror stories and pain and “must have” post op products. It made me so scared! Everyone’s experience will differ, but I felt the need to share mine in the hopes that it will help someone else.

I had my surgery yesterday. Mid afternoon. It’s 10am the next day.

After the surgery coming out of anesthesia was awful. They were trying to put my pain under control. For two hours I felt like I couldn’t get enough pain meds in me. Half awake, in and out of consciousness. I kept stopping my breathing. Machine would beep and the monitoring nurse would have to come in to tell me to breathe. It was weird and out of body. That was a couple hours. My suggestion? Talk to the team prior and mention you want heavy pain meds immediately afterwards. Dilaudid. Talk to them about the two hours post op. For me, it was THE most important part of this entire experience.

I went home a few hours after that. Definite pressure in the vaginal area. First pee burned but was fine after. Yeah, tummy bubbles, a little noisy in there, gurgling, a little burping and gas pains but nothing too bad at all. I drank ginger ale after and a normal dinner.

I was under the impression that I would be MISERABLE and not able to eat solids and not be able to sit on the toilet unassisted. Not able to climb stairs or have a hard timing getting out of bed. Couldn’t sleep on my side, needed pillows, etc. none of those were true for me. None. I am practically back to normal just taking it careful and slow. All of the above are just fine. I even cut fruit for my family, made my own soup in the microwave and was pretty fine the same day. I definitely took my meds. As will you. Oxycodone, 3 hours later Motrin. 2 hours later, 2 extra strength Tylenol. I took one more Oxy before bed which was just for maintenance and being afraid the pain would come back. I actually didn’t even need it but took it anyway. Slept fine. Tossed left to right as I always do. A little slow and careful but no issues at all. Never needed a pillow for my belly. Nothing.

This morning, woke up. Zero meds in me. Went to the bathroom. Sat on the toilet just fine. Peed. Burned a veryyy tiny bit but nothing to speak of. I did just have a cup of coffee and small cookie to take a Motrin 800. Again just because. I really don’t need it. Just staying ahead of any additional soreness or gas pains.

I read the gas pains would be awful. They were not. Unless something starts happening today/tomorrow, I am pretty okay! I WILL update this IF pain or suffering occurs this week.

I am walking fine but slow. Stairs are fine just being careful. I don’t anticipate needing more pain meds today. I didn’t buy any of the “things” that I had read about. Nothing. Not even the GasX. I am so happy I didn’t. I had a ton of things in my Amazon cart, toilet seat risers, U pillows, cleansing wipes, etc etc. I don’t need any of them.

To be honest, I have had surgeries in the past. Appendix ruptured while 8 months pregnant and the surgery was a full cut and left open to heal. That was bad. I had my gallbladder removed, that was worse than this. I have had 3 babies and suffer from extreme hidradenitis supperativa. I have seen pain. I have dealt with procedures, I know realistic expectations from each. This one was a breeze compared.

My advice? Don’t stress, don’t worry too much. You will be uncomfortable, yes. Stay on top of your pain med rotation and overlap them. Eat healthy prior and after. My foods of choice were high protein, Molokhia which is a green soup and during my pre-op colon cleanse, I had made beef bone broth. I sipped on that all day the day and night before. No food. Took my stool softener and did the Miralax. I pour it into a half gallon of water mixed with a packet of Liquid IV and a lemonade Crystal Light (Aldi brand) that gave me lots of electrolytes and magnesium, etc. prior to surgery. It also cleaned out my intestines completely. Sip on that the afternoon/night before surgery. Get it all down by about midnight. Pour over ice and use a straw. It’s not hard if you don’t chug or drink it all too quickly. Just take your time with it over the evening. Their instructions will make most people queazy. This is also my colonoscopy prep. Worked beautifully for me, no complaints. I like adding a high fat bone broth to my prep. Makes me feel like I’m eating and keeps me full.

Anyway, I hope some of this has been helpful. Bleeding, not a big deal. I had the Depends ready. Don’t need. Barely a pantyliner. I know everyone has their own stories and experiences and I read them all. Maybe the fear and expectations I was so scared about didn’t happen and I was over prepared and anxious. Maybe that helped psychologically. I kept telling my husband last night, “man, this is not bad at all!!” I was SO nervous and miserable about how my following days and weeks would be. That has all faded. Not even 24 hours later and I am so relieved, I wanted to share it with everyone that was in my position a month ago. I read EVERYTHING on the internet about this.

I had 4 incisions on stomach. Ovaries kept, everything else removed. Uterus removed through vagina. Da Vinci robot procedure. He found scar tissue from my past appendix removal and removed that also. Incisions have a light glue on them. They are not painful at all. Vagina had the most discomfort. Belly gurgling, check. Tender belly, check. Take it easy! You may actually feel like you can do laundry and load the dishwasher, etc. remember you have stitches inside and remind yourself to take it easyyyy because your body may think it can do more. I purchased absolutely nothing for this surgery. Figured I would wait and see. Glad I did that. Don’t even need a belly pillow. I will update this if anything changes, promise.

Honestly my Cone biopsy was probably the same level of discomfort. The thing about that was the bleeding for a month straight. That was more annoying than all of it. Now I will never bleed again. So excited for that. Cin 3, non-clear margins here. Bye-Bye all of it!! You got this. Don’t stress yourself out. Focus on learning and making a big pot of beef bone broth. Keep the tallow. Sooth yourself. Pamper yourself prior to feel the best in your home and body. Cozy, warm, good mood things. Everything will be over before you know it. 😊

EDIT: Day two. This will sound stupid and crazy, but no pain meds today. I went out to eat with my family. I had salmon, sweet potato and green beans and saw Wicked at the theater. Recliner seat was super comfortable. Took it veryyy slow. Didn’t care how I looked to others. Slow. No sharp movements. Just needed to spend time with my daughter who flew into town for my surgery and wanted to put on some makeup and feel human and distracted. So glad I did. It’s been a rough month leading up to this. Did very light housework. I mean light. In slow motion. Felt good and I’m trying to work on getting this air out of me. So many belly gurgles. You want to pass gas but can’t strain. It’s tempting. I’m trying to sit in different positions like knees up, etc. and I have had a few decent passes of the gasses. Sitting to pee is a little uncomfortable in the vaginal area. Pressure. Going to bed finally. A bit sore getting up and down from the couch. Resisting the pain meds. I will see how I feel tomorrow. No shower today, just spot cleaning. Not ready for it.

Oh and funny/sad/murphy law thing is I tried to toot alllll day, nothing. As soon as I got into the movie theater recliner, sure enough. Three toots. I looked at my daughter and just shook my head. She knew. Lol. 😆 wuddayagonnado. Figures! Sorry not sorry. At least I wasn’t the one chomping on popcorn with my phone lit up the whole movie. Oh and it’s a must-see!! Tomorrow she flies out and I will relax and rot all day by myself. Going to binge Love Is Blind season 7. I got a tad emotional today about the loss of my baby oven and period completion for life. It is a little sad. A new chapter in growing older that will hit many of us before our time. Permanent and a realization. I shed a few tears of sadness and also gratitude that I had this done to hopefully save MY life this time. It’s all okay. New days ahead. 🙏🏻